Oil well drilling substructure with elevated exterior flooring



1965 H. J. WOOLSLAYER ETAL 3,202,241

OIL WELL DRILLING SUBSTRUCTURE WITH ELEVATED EXTERIOR FLOORING 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS HOME/9 J. WOOLSLAYEE JOHN 14 BORN BY CHARLES F. CLEVELAND 6mm. flcflm. ATTORNEYS.

Filed June 21, 1962 Aug. 24, 1965 H. J. WOOLSLAYER ETAL 3,202,241

OIL WELL DRILLING SUBSTRUCTURE WITH ELEVATED EXTERIOR FLOORING Filed June 21. 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS 5% BY cmxaaf f-T CZ'VELA/VD Q amwm'mawm.

ATTOP/VEKS.

g 1955 H. J. WOOLSLAYER ETAL 3,202,241

OIL WELL DRILLING SUBSTRUCTURE WITH ELEVATED EXTERIOR FLOORING 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 21, 1962 Fig. 4

INVENTORS. l/GMEA .J. WOOLSLAVEA JOHN 14 504W BY (#42455 F. c2 EVA-LAND 6mm, (fizz J6, (7% 5% ATTOP/VEZKS substructure.

United States Patent 3,202,241 OIL WELL DRELLENG SUBSTRUCTURE WITH ELEVATED EXTERIGR FLOORING Homer J. Woolslayer, John W. Born, and Charles F.

Cleveland, Tulsa, @kltn, assignors to Lee C. Moore Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June '21, 1962, Ser. No. 204,120 4 Clairns. (Cl. 18282) This invention relates. to substructures used in the drilling of oil wells, and more particularly to flooring added around the power unit on the substructure.

An oil well drilling substructure supports, in addition to the drilling mast, drawworks for operating the drilling line suspended from the crown block, and usually one or more engines for driving the drawworks. The drawworks and engines, as well as the drawworks alone, shall be referred to herein as the power unit. To place the power unit on the substructure, the unit is skidded over a top edge of the substructure, and of course it is removed in the same way. The power unit has its own deck, which may be a couple feet higher than the top of the substructure. To provide additional floor area, it is desirable to surround the deck at the same level with flooring supported by the substructure. If the power unit utilizes most or all of the top area of the substructure, this additional flooring may have to extend outwardly away from the sides of the substructure as outrigging. The added flooring presents a problem when it is desired to remove the power unit because, due to the flooring projecting above the substructure, it forms an obstruction. Therefore it has to be removed, which involves considerable time and labor.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a substructure with exterior flooring above the level of the top of the substructure, which can be quickly and easily lowered out of the way without removing it from the substructure, whereby the flooring will not interfere with skidding a power unit across the edge of the substructure.

In accordance with this invention, an exterior floor section is normally disposed in an elevated position above a substructure that supports a power unit having an elevated deck. The floor section is located at substantially the level of that deck and it extends from above an edge of the top of the substructure outward away from the The floor section is supported from the substructure by inclined links and substantially upright links. The opposite ends of the upright links are pivotally connected to the inner edge portion of the floor section and to the underlying side of the substructure. The opposite ends of the inclined links are pivotally connected to the outer edge portion of the floor section and to the same side of the substructure above the lower ends of the upright links. Means are provided for holding the floor section in its elevated position until it is desired to swing it down below the top of the substructure so that it will not interfere with skidding the power unit across the edge of the substructure above it.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a substructure provided with our floor sections;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the substructure; and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are enlarged fragmentary vertical sections of the exterior flooring taken on the lines III--III and IV--lV, respectively, of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a substructure 1 of any suitable construction may be provided, on which are mounted the front and rear shoes 2 and 3, respectively, for receiving the feet of an oil well drilling mast and of a gin pole that helps support it (not shown). Behind "ice the center line of the well location 4 the top of the substructure has a large area for supporting a power unit consisting of a drawworks alone as indicated in broken lines in FIG. 1, or a drawworks and its driving engine or engines. The unit includes supporting skids that are covered by a deck located a considerable distance above the top of the substructure. The deck area at the front and the back of the power unit is increased by mounting relatively narrow floor panels 5 and 6 on the substructure at the same height as the deck.

It is a feature of this invention that the power unit deck area also is extended at at least one side of the substructure by additional elevated flooring, even when the power unit extends all of the way across the substructure. In such a case a floor section extends outward beyond the substructure from its adjacent upper edge. In the drawings added exterior fioor sections are shown at both sides of the substructure. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, at one side of the substructure the floor section A is formed from a rigid horizontal frame It on which a floor plate 11 is mounted. The frame is supported, with the floor plate at the same level as the power unit deck, by means of inclined links 12 and upright links 13. To stiffen the floor section the inclined links between a a pair of upright links can be connected by horizontal and diagonal braces 14. The upper ends of the upright links are connected by pivot pins 15 to brackets 17 projecting downward from the inner portion of the floor section, and the lower ends of these links are connected by pivot pins 18 to brackets 19 attached to the underlying side of the substructure some distance below its top. The upper ends of the inclined links are connected by pivot pins 20 to the outer edge portion of the floor section, and their lower ends are connected by pivot pins 21 to brackets 22' projecting laterally from the substructure above brackets 19. Brackets 22 preferably are at the top of the substructure. To normally hold all of the links in their upper positions, the central portions of the upright links are straddled by brackets 23 projecting outwardly from the top of the substructure and containing removable fasteners 24 that also extend through the links. The inner edge of the floor section may be provided with brackets 25 having horizontal holes through them to match with like holes in the power unit skids 26 shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3, so that the floor section and skids can be bolted together. This manner of holding the floor section in its elevated position could be used to the exclusion of fasteners 24.

At the opposite side of the substructure there is a similar horizontal floor section B, shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, likewise supported by inclined links 39 and upright links 31, although the upright links are not as vertical as those at the opposite side. The opposite ends of the inclined links are connected by pivot pins 32 and 33 to the outer edge portion of the floor section and to brackets 34 projecting laterally from the top of the substructure 1. The opposite ends of the upright links are pivotally connected by pins 36 and 37 to brackets 38 depending from the inner portion of the floor section and to brackets 39 projecting from the side of the substructure below the inclined links. Due to the fact that the power unit is shown projecting a short distance from this side of the substructure, the inner edge portion of the main body of this floor section is recessed and therefore is located farther out away from the substructure than the floor section at the opposite side. That is the reason that the long links 31 lean outwardly somewhat as shown. the floor section up, the central portions of the upright links are connected by removable fasteners 41 to brackets 42 projecting from the top of the substructure. The inner edge of the floor section may be provided with brackets To hold m is 43 for bolting it to the power unit skids 26 shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4.

When it is desired to remove the power unit from the substructure, one or the other of the floor sections A or B can be lowered out of the way by swinging it downward beside the side of the substructure. Before this can be done, the floor section has to be unbolted from the pewer unit and the upright links have to be disconnected from the brackets near their centers. The floor section then can swing down, guided by the links attached to it. The location of the lowered floor section and its position will depend on the length of the upright links. This is illustrated in FIG. 3. Since it is desirable that in its lower position the floor section A be close to the side of the substructure and more or less fiat against it, it is preferred that the pivot pins 13 at the lower ends of upright links 13 be located substantially half way between upper pivots 16 and the position they will have to occupy in order to permit the floor section to hang nearly straight down from the inclined links 12 when the latter are hanging substantially straight down from their supporting brackets 22. The length of the upright links relative to the inclined links then will be as shown in FIG. 3. If the upright links were shorter, the floor section in its lower position would extend outwardly away from the side of the substructure, while if the upright links were longer, they would prevent the floor section from being swung all of the way down to the side of the substructure. In any case, however, with the floor section swung down below the top of the substructure, it is out of the way of the power unit, which then can be removed across the edge of the substructure.

We claim:

1. The combination with an oil well drilling substructure for supporting a power unit having an elevated deck, of an exterior floor section normally disposed in an elevated position above the substructure at substantially power unit deck level and extending from above an edge of the top of the substructure outward away from it, inclined links and substantially upright links supporting said floor section from the substructure, means pivotally connecting the opposite ends of the upright links to the inner portion of the floor section and to the underlying side of the substructure, means pivotally connecting the opposite ends of the inclined links to the outer portion of the door section and to said side of the substructure above the lower ends of the upright links, and means for holding the floor section in said elevated position until it is desired to swing all of said section down below said 4 lower ends of the upright links, the upright links being long enough for the lowered inclined links to hang substantially straight down and for the fioor section to hang down from said hanging links with its top facing the adjacent side of the substructure in close proximity thereto.

The combination recited in claim 1, in which said holding means detachably fasten the central portions of the upright links to the substructure to hold ail of the links in their upper positions.

3. The combination recited in claim 1, in which the pivotal connecting means at the upper ends of the upright links are at a lower level than the pivotal connecting means at the upper ends of the inclined links to permit the upright links to lie against the bottom of said floor section when it is in its lower position.

4-. The combination with an oil well drilling substructure, of a power unit removably mounted on top of the substructure and having an elevated deck extending substantially to a side edge of the substructure, an exterior floor section normally disposed beside said deck at substantially the same level and extending outward away from said substructure edge, inclined links and substantially upright links supporting said floor section from the substructure, means pivotally connecting the opposite ends of the upright links to the inner portion of the floor section and to the underlying side of the substructure, means pivotally connecting the opposite ends of the inclined links to the outer portion of the floor section and to said side of the substructure above the lower ends of the upright links, and means for detachably connecting the inner edge portion of the floor section to the power unit until it is desired to swing all of said section down below said lower ends of the upright links to permit removal of said unit from the substructure across said edge, the upright links being long enough for the lowered inclined links to hang substantially straight down and for the floor section to hang down from said hanging links with its top facing the adjacent side of the substructure in close proximity thereto.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,660,765 12/ 5 3 Carlson 20-16 FOREEGN PATENTS 690,529 4/53 Great Britain.

RICHARD W. COOKE, In, Primary Examiner. 

1. THE COMBINATION WITH AN OIL WELL DRILLING SUBSTRUCTURE FOR SUPPORTING A POWER UNIT HAVING AN ELEVATED DECK, OF AN EXTERIOR FLOOR SECTION NORMALLY DISPOSED IN AN ELEVATED POSITION ABOVE THE SUBSTRUCTURE AT SUBSTANTIALLY POWER UNIT DECK LEVEL AND EXTENDING FROM ABOVE AN EDGE OF THE TOP OF THE SUBSTRUCTURE OUTWARD AWAY FROM IT, INCLINED LINKS AND SUBSTANTIALLY UPRIGHT LINKS SUPPORTING SAID FLOOR SECTION FROM THE SUBSTRUCTURE, MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE UPRIGHT LINKS TO THE INNER PORTION OF THE FLOOR SECTION AND TO THE UNDERLYING SIDE OF THE SUBSTRUCTURE, MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE INCLINED LINKS TO THE OUTER PORTION OF THE FLOOR SECTION AND TO SAID SIDE OF THE SUBSTRUCTURE ABOVE THE LOWER ENDS OF THE UPRIGHT LINKS, AND MEANS FOR HOLDING THE FLOOR SECTION IN SAID ELEVATED POSITION UNTIL IT IS DESIRED TO SWING ALL OF SAID SECTION DOWN BELOE SAID LOWER ENDS OF THE UPRIGHT LINKSS, THE UPRIGHT LINKS BEING LONG ENOUGH FOR THE LOWERED INCLINED LINKS TO HANG SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT DOWN AND FOR THE FLOOR SECTION TO HANG DOWN FROM SAID HANGING LINKS WITH ITS TOP FACING THE ADJACENT SIDE OF THE SUBSTRUCTURE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY THERETO. 